Toughie No 3642 by Robyn
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
A proper Toughie on a Wednesday, but then that is as it should be when Robyn is the setter. The two pesky four-letter words at the top of the grid held me up the longest in this most enjoyable crossword
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a A little boy in blue maybe turning round (4)
POCO A reversal (turning) of an informal name for a policeman (boy in blue maybe) followed by the ‘round’ letter
3a Cher ousts Queen with some current number one (5)
CHAMP Remove (ousts) the regnal cipher of our late Queen from CHer and add the abbreviated form of the SI Unit of Electrical Current
6a `Irrational and illogical, throwing away a book (4)
SURD Remove the A and the abbreviation for Book from an adjective meaning illogical
8a I state cutting smooth hair is a key alternative? (11,4)
COMBINATION LOCK I (from the clue) and a state ‘cutting’ a way of saying smooth a piece of hair
9a Join forces with paragon of virtue on line, oddly (6)
ENLIST An abbreviated paragon of virtue goes on or after an anagram (oddly) of LINE
10a Eccentric who fried mince cakes in dish (4,4)
CHOW MEIN An anagram (eccentric) of WHO is inserted into (cakes) an anagram (fried) of MINCE
11a Speaker’s artlessness viewed from a certain perspective (2,1,5)
IN A SENSE A homophone (speaker’s) of artlessness or simplicity
13a Perhaps setter is one bringing in the punters (6)
BARKER A dog (perhaps setter) or a tout advertising wares (one bringing in the punters)
15a A place to drive introduced by travel feature (6)
GOATEE A (from the clue) and a place to drive a golf ball ‘introduced by’ or following a verb meaning to travel
17a Overexcited reaction from relative texting you “LOL!” (8)
BROUHAHA An abbreviated male relative, the text way of writing you and the sound of laughter
19a Land embracing papal illumination (3-5)
ARC-LIGHT A verb meaning to land ‘embracing’ the abbreviated religion of a pope
21a/23a Hurrah! Seat arranged in stadium (6,4)
ARTHUR ASHE The tennis stadium in New York City – an anagram (arranged) of HURRAH SEAT
22a Half of Bordeaux and crisps on the house is what you may get in bars (15)
DEMISEMIQUAVERS The French (as used in Bordeaux) word for half and some crisps, the latter going on or after a type of house
23a See 21 Across
24a Sudanese guerrilla lines move smoothly (5)
SEGUE Found in the ‘lining’ of SudaneSE GUErilla
25a Visits Oxford and Durham, perhaps (4)
SEES Another word for dioceses such as Oxford and Durham
Down
1d What wannabe fiancé may do in jeweller’s around East Yorks town (9)
PICKERING What a wannabe fiancé may do in a jeweller’s shop into which is inserted (around) the abbreviation for East
2d Royal Academy’s head works in C&A (7)
CAMILLA The ‘head’ of Academy and a building or factory (works) inserted between C and A
3d Lake view overlooked by person inside (9)
CONSTANCE A view or position on something ‘overlooked’ by an abbreviated prisoner (person inside)
4f Help when reading news report of traffic jam? (7)
AUTOCUE This sounds like it could be a traffic jam when said out loud
5d Backing way of working in advertising (5)
PROMO For or in favour of (backing) and an abbreviated way of working
6d Rating chocolate bar she unwrapped: it’s very soggy (4,5)
SALT MARSH An experienced sailor (rating), a type of chocolate bar and the middle letter (unwrapped) of sHe
7d Crazy vocalist follows cover of Roxette in lounge (7)
RECLINE Ear worm time! The surname of the singer of Crazy follows the outside letters (cover) of RoxettE
12d Revolver in place, loaded by a famous marksman (9)
SATELLITE Place or locate into which is inserted (loaded by) A (from the clue) and a legendary Swiss marksman
13d See red garment clothing skinny person out of India (4,1,4)
BLOW A FUSE A female upper garment ‘clothing’ a skinny person without the letter represented by India in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
14d Prat breaks collars again (9)
REARRESTS Prat is a slang name for the buttocks or bottom, another word for which goes before some breaks in activity
16d A loser’s het up, ill-equipped for a row (7)
OARLESS An anagram (het up) of A LOSERS
17d In Bologna on vacation, dry gin gets drunk (7)
BATTING The outside (on vacation) letters of BolognA, the abbreviated way of saying not drinking (dry) and an anagram (gets drunk0 of GIN
18d One might run articles without hindrance (7)
ATHLETE Indefinite and definite articles go outside (without) a hindrance or obstruction
20d Good means of viewing Highland features? (5)
GLENS The abbreviation for Good and something to look through
Always a treat – 8a, 10a and 22a were especially lovely. Best thanks to Sue and Robyn.
What a treat to get a Toughie from this setter. 5* enjoyment here despite finding it an arduous solve. Thought I was going to fall 2 letters shy of completion until the wordplay penny dropped with last in 6a even though I had no idea what the answer had to do with irrational until Mr G enlightened me. As ever with a Robyn puzzle many answers went in before any sense was made of the why but got there eventually. Impossible to pick a fav as you could stick a tick next to pretty well all of ‘em. More please….
Thanks to Robyn & to Sue.
It took me a while to get onto the right wavelength, but then it all came together slowly but steadily. It was well worth the effort with PDM followed by PDM.
My one qualm is that 1a surely needs an Italian indicator.
With plenty of ticks to choose from, my podium comprises 10a, 17a (my favourite) & 17d.
Many thanks to Robyn and to CS.
Super puzzle, and a proper challenge. The SE of a diagonal from 7d to 23a went in quite a lot more swiftly than the corresponding NW half, with those two 4-letter words at the top being my last ones in, and needing dictionary confirmation. Some great clue constructions and I loved the teasing out of answers.
Honours to 13a, 18a and 24a. Many thanks to Robyn & Sue
And, in the hope that Robyn reads this particular blog, I fervently hope he can use his influence and sway to address the fiasco that is the way these puzzles print – for those who do not do them online or in the published paper.
So many recent puzzles, both back-page and Toughie, have not been printable to a single page of A4. Even today’s Toughie would have gone to 2 pages had a single additional across clue gone to a second line. The print-out is not scalable to a single page because of the fixed format for the grid and clues. The grid itself is excessively large and the clues do not need to be in such a large (and unchangeable) font.
Robyn, please have a look at how The Times & Sunday Times crosswords are printed: never to two pages, easy to read (and I use contact lenses with reading glasses), and the prize puzzles even include a competition entry section on the same page! Similarly I have yet to encounter a problem with the Guardian and FT puzzles.
Surely this cannot be beyond the wit of the DT’s puzzles & IT teams to remedy, please?
And if he does read the blog – how about a Monday Toughie & even one on a Saturday for that matter.
The font is ok, it is just that the grid is a lot larger than the perfectly satisfactory one on the old DT puzzles site
A tremendously enjoyable puzzle – thanks to Robyn and CS.
I didn’t know the 6a ‘irrational’ but it is apparently a mathematical term so I’ll excuse myself.
I’ve far too many ticks on my printout to list them all – I’ll just mention 15a, 17a, 7d and 17d.
It’s been an excellent Toughie week so far – let’s hope the excellence continues.
A pleasant, albeit taxing, afternoon spent wheedling the solution for this puzzle. Like Mustafa G the answers below the NE/SW diagonal were a lot easier than those above, apart from 13d. Must admit I took a peek at the hints for 8a and 13d which unlocked the remainder and I agree with RD that 1a needs an Italian indicator.
My favourites are 6d, 13d and pride of place goes to 22a which I don’t think I have ever Intentionally managed on the guitar.
Thanks to ROBYN and CS
Pretty chewy to start with [those 3 at the top] but great fun. To my shame I had forgotten about Ms Cline [7d] and had to Google it but everything else eventually went in OK. Favourites were 17a, 4d [last in, I was fixated on “article” for reasons I now forget] 17d and 18d.
Thanks to Robyn and Sue.
We certainly agree with the ‘Proper Toughie’ description but what a lot of fun to slowly have all the pennies drop into place.
Thanks Robyn and CS.
Not heard of 1a, 6a or 13a before but fairly clued. Quite a few were solved with inspired guesswork and reverse engineering. I enjoyed the challenge though. Favourite was 22a. Thanks to Robyn and CS.
Well. I found that REALLY hard. I have never heard of 6a and shall have to look it up in the morning. What sort of brainbox thinks of 22a? Pure genius. Well, it certainly kept me enthralled for a sleepless hour , could not have done it without you CeeSue. And Robyn of course
So good to see another puzzle from Robyn. Glad the earlier one wasn’t a one off. So many good clues to choose from. Favourite was BLOW A FUSE.